LG Group granted most patents in Europe

LG Group granted most patents in Europe

LG Group, a South Korean major conglomerate with more than 20 affiliated companies in electronics, chemical, telecommunications and service sectors, has obtained the largest number of patents from the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2017, data showed.

According to an annual report released by the EPO on Wednesday (local time), LG Group has obtained 1,792 patents in Europe last year, becoming the new No.1 patent holder in Europe after beating Germany’s Bosch with 1,463. Samsung Group came third with 1,408, followed by Huawei with 1,262 and Qualcomm with 1,155.

The report also showed that the number of patent applications by LG Group in Europe was 2,056 last year, third largest figure. It was trailed by Samsung Group with 2,016. Among Korean firms, Hyundai Group filed for 84 patent applications, LS Industrial Systems 73, and Doosan Group and Posco 63, respectively. A Chinese company Huawei snatched the crown with 2,398 for the first time in the history of the EPO.

By country, the United States filed the most patent applications at the EPO, trailed by Germany, Japan, France and China. China, in particular, defeated Switzerland and put its name on the top five list. The report noted that while the number of patent applications has generally grown among most of the traditionally largest patent filing countries, Korea was an exception seeing applications drop by 8.2 percent in 2017 after two consecutive years of growth.